By the time Kayil arrived at the dojo, Genke had already finished three plates of casserole.
"You better have saved some for me," Kayil said, glaring at Genke.
"Don't worry Kayil, there's plenty to go around!" exclaimed Eiji as he came into the dining room carrying another five plates of casserole, two of which Genke grabbed immediately. Kayil proceeded to take the other two, which left Eiji going back into the kitchen to grab more.
"My Genke, where do you keep it all?" asked Freya as she took a bite of her salad.
"A true fighter knows where the energy is," exclaimed Kayil as he began devouring his food.
"Okay, I can see that the casserole does more for your energy, but six plates? Come on!" Freya replied jokingly.
"What can I say? It's good!" exclaimed Genke, trying to keep his food in his mouth.
"Boys," sighed Freya, before taking a sip of her tea. The others just stopped for a moment, than began laughing.
After lunch was finished, and the three teens had cleaned up, Eiji led them outside to train. During the beginning stretch, Genke couldn't help but think about the dreams he'd been having, and finally decided to ask Freya.
"Freya, I …um… kind of have a weird question to ask you…" Genke said suddenly.
"A weird question?" replied Freya, looking somewhat interested.
"Well, it's about this dream I've been having." Suddenly, everyone's attention turned to Genke.
"You mean you've been having dreams too?" Asked Freya, sounding excited.
"Yeah, I keep hearing this voice," Genke began, before getting cut off by Freya,
"And you don't know where it's coming from?!" Freya gasped, sounding even more excited.
"Well at first I don't, but then I end up near a pond, and I notice that the voice is coming from me!, well my reflection that is," explained Genke.
The others seemed mesmerized by the story, as they just stood still, watching Genke.
"This is where it gets really weird," Genke explained. He looked at Kayil, who looked as if he knew what Genke was about to say.
"My reflection comes out of the water, and begins changing into…" Genke trailed off, looking unsure if he should tell them the next part. He didn't have to though, because Kayil jumped in right where he left off.
"A giant ape?", Kayil asked, looking completely confident.
"Actually yes!" Genke exclaimed, feeling relieved. At least he wasn't the only one having these weird dreams.
"Eww! No!" Freya blurted out. "My reflection doesn't change into an ape! But it does change a bit though. My hair turns bright yellow, and it stands straight up, my eyes change from brown to emerald green, and I seem to be glowing!"
"Glowing?" asked Genke, feeling even more confused now.
"Yeah, glowing, like with enormous energy. Freya explained, "it's weird I know, but I'm glad I don't turn into a giant ape at least!"
Everyone seemed to be in shock at the conversation that had just taken place. Finally Genke broke the silence.
"I've been thinking guys," he began, "Do you ever wonder about where we came from?" The question seemed to jolt the others back to life.
"The odd time I'll give it a thought, but usually nothing more than that," Kayil said, as he began stretching again.
"What about you Freya?" asked Genke, hoping to hear something a little more to his liking.
"Well I never really thought about it as a child, but now that you mention it, I have been thinking a lot about our heritage." Eiji seemed to get a bit tense, but quickly shrugged it off.
"Yeah, me too Freya, I've been thinking a lot recently though. Like, why are we such good fighters? I mean, sure we've been training for a long time, but during fights with you guys sometimes I get so excited, it's weird, I feel almost as if I was born to fight…" Genke said, looking very concerned.
"Born to fight eh?" Kayil replied looking anxious. "Well that should give you even more reason to train harder for the world martial arts tournament next month." Eiji, who had been pretty quiet until now, jumped in.
"I was gonna wait until after our training session this afternoon, but since Kayil brought it up, I guess now's a good a time as ever to tell you. I've been watching your progress very carefully, and I believe that you three have a very good chance of winning the world martial arts tournament," he explained, "and that's why I've signed you three up already."
"What?!" shrieked Freya, "The world martial arts tournament?!, I'm not professional! I'll get killed out there!"
"Oh give me a break!" Kayil retorted. "You know you love fighting. You give me a run for my money every time we spar, and I know your holding back."
"Yeah, but Kayil," Genke interrupted, "Do you really think we're world class?"
"Of course I do!" Kayil replied looking annoyed, "And master signing us up couldn't make it any clearer."
"Well it's settled then," Eiji announced, "You'll all enter the tournament next month."
********
The day of the unveiling had finally arrived, but instead of being excited, Karen Greye was nervous. She knew how much was riding on this presentation. The press would flood her with questions, many of which she had not rehearsed answers for, some she may not even know the answers too, but, if she could get to the demonstration, she'd be sure to win the council's approval.
The sweat dripped off of Karen's brow as she heard her name being called.
"And now ladies and gentlemen of the press, our next presenter has something new to show us this year, something she's been working on for almost twelve years now!" There was applause.
"Her many inventions include everything from a vaccine that eliminated the threat of the Rhinox virus, to a heat sensory control that has opened us up to a whole new level of space exploration!, here to introduce her newest invention, one which will surely revolutionize the police academy forever, the one, the only, Dr. Karen Greye!"
Karen's heart was pounding as she began her walk towards the curtain. Why was she nervous? She had done this at least a dozen times before. Why was this time so different?
She had no time to answer herself as she crossed through the curtains and into the spotlight. Immediately cameras began flashing everywhere and people began shouting questions. It seemed to take forever to reach the podium. By the time she arrived there, she had heard at least two-dozen different questions and comments from the reporters in the first few rows of seats. She took about thirty seconds to gain her composure, then began speaking.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen of the press, fellow scientists and researchers, to what will hopefully be a new era in law enforcement." Stated Karen, as she began eyeing reporters who she would take questions from. She then paused for a moment of applause.
"Today we will look at a new type of police officer who will be able to save us time, and lives all while saving us money." Again she paused for applause. She moved towards the large covered object to her left.
"And without further ad due, I present to you, the future of law enforcement!" And with that, Karen pulled a rope that was next to her, and the blanket that had been covering the project she had been working on for the past twelve years was raised.
Underneath it was not what some people had expected, which could be told from the silence of the room. Finally after about ten seconds, some onlooker in the back yelled out. That's when the applause started. When the applause began slowing down, Karen began her explanation of what the crowd was looking at.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are now looking at are the newest additions to the Satan city police force. As you can see they are not humans, but robots." Explained Karen, as she began to feel nervous again. She quickly continued.
"Atom and Eve are the first of many androids; artificial intelligence in human form, that are highly trained in everything from hand to hand combat, to extreme negotiations. They will be joining the force later this year after the last of their testing has been completed."
She had little time to relax before the questions started flying at her. She acknowledged a small elderly reporter in the second row.
"Dr. Greye, exactly what level of training do these robots have again?"
Karen was relieved, at least this was a question she knew the answer too.
"They've been coded with the skills of the greatest fighters on the planet as well as the knowledge of the best criminal investigators and the decisiveness of the most well known justices." Karen explained, looking confident. She then acknowledged a female report a few rows back from the elderly man.
"Dr. Greye, how has the break in at the lab affected your progress in the last few days?"
Karen instantly felt nervous, she knew someone was going to ask her about this, and she really didn't know what to say. Her team hadn't even bothered to check if the androids had anything done to them that night.
"That incident hasn't hindered our progress one bit," she began, being careful not to say something that would continue more questions on the subject. "The androids were finished before that night, and had been moved to a different location, to make final preparations for today's presentation." She turned to another female reporter in the first row.
"Dr. Greye, when will we be able to see the talents of these androids demonstrated?"
Karen was excited. She wouldn't have to answer any more questions, once she showed the crowd the androids in action, she'd be able to leave.
"Well actually, we will have a brief demonstration right now," Karen began as she walked over towards the two androids. She picked up a remote, programmed a few instructions into it, and the androids came to life. "Ladies and gentlemen, meet Atom and Eve." The two androids waved at the audience, and the audience cheered.
"The first demonstration will be done by Atom, who will demonstrate his intelligence with a series of quick case studies. She walked over to Atom and presented him with a short pamphlet. He seemed to be finished reading it in less than a minute. Karen asked him a few questions about the pamphlet, and then asked him his point of view on the situation. Atom responded with a remark about how the criminal's intent shouldn't have been taken into account in the manner it was, and decided that he should have his sentence lowered. The crowd cheered at the display of knowledge, and began shouting for more. Karen was ecstatic. She knew the audience would be pleased, but this was better than she could of hoped. The next demonstration would blow them away.
"Our next demonstration will be done by Eve, who will demonstrate her speed and power, by destroying several targets with the energy weapons stored in her hands, and then knock down a solid brick wall with her bare hands." Explained Karen, keeping the audience's attention. The crowd watched in awe as Eve stepped up to a marked line on the stage. Three metal objects then lowered from the ceiling and began flying around the stage at speeds some of the audience members couldn't even follow. Eve seemed totally relaxed as she raised her hand. The audience was almost knocked off their feet when Eve's hands began to glow. She began following the objects with her eyes, and then she began shooting. The first blast hit its target, dropping the metal like a tin can. There was a pause before Eve shot again, but the wait was worth it. The blast not only hit the second object, but continued through it and dropped the last target as well.
The audience was silent for a moment, but then began cheering louder than it had been all day. Eve took a bow, then moved to another marked line on the stage. The audience settled down, not knowing what to expect next.
As Eve stood on the line, a large wall, which looked like it was used in a safety tests for cars, was lowered onto a catapult type machine in the middle of the stage. Karen entered a few codes into her remote and the catapult sent the wall hurdling towards Eve at lightning speed. The crowd gasped as Eve took a swing as the wall was about to hit her. The wall instantly exploded and pieces of cement and dust went flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, Eve was still standing, relaxed as ever, unharmed. The crowd roared with excitement. Karen calmed them down to give one last statement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you liked what you've seen here, you'll love what I'm about to tell you next." The crowd was silent again. "I'm so confident in Atom and Eve's abilities, that I've taken the liberty of signing them up for this year's world martial arts tournament next month." The crowd cheered, as Karen continued. "That's right folks, you can all witness the greatest fighters in the world have a go at these two unique individuals!" The crowd cheered again. As the crowd silenced, Karen finished her speech.
"You can let it be known now, that the two strongest fighters in the world, have just joined the tournament! We'll see you in one month!"